Your Questions Answered
Question:
Thank you SO much for writing the Alice books. I am currently on summer vacation but i will be in 7th grade after summer vacation and i started with your books scene i was in 5th grade and right now I’m reading almost Alice. In 5th grade i read like a fourth grader but now i have a 12th grade reading level so would like to thank you for helping with my reading skills and i hope you keep writing Alice books so i could grow up with her and laugh along.
thank you so much
Phyllis replied:
Yay for Alice and yay for you! Just shows how much we can improve when we’re really enjoying something.
Posted on: July 4, 2009
Question:
hi!I am from India and the alice books are only available tilll simply alice i still did not read 7 books!!!!!!!!!And i heard something of you writing 25# and 28# or something ,was it the alice series?do the alice series get over at intensley alice or not?And could you please do something about the books available in india ?
Phyllis replied:
I love knowing you’re reading my books in India. Have you written to the Indian publisher to find out if more books are going to be printed? If not, I guess you’ll have to order copies from one of the mail-order houses in the United States. No, the series does not end with Intensely Alice. There will be 28 books total.
Posted on: July 4, 2009
Question:
I just have a quick question!
Do you think that there are going to be anymore movies based off of the Alice Series? I am a very big fan of your Alice books!
I just got the newest addition to your series in the mail not even a two days ago and I am already finished with it! It was greatly written by a wonderful author! I have been reading your Alice books from the beginning and I love them all! Thanks for all that you do! Your books are phenomenally written! Thank you for giving me a series of books that I love and when ever I get a new one it is so amazing I can’t put it down! Thanks to you, I never used to enjoy reading, but ever since I found out about your series of Alice books, I have been able to find a reason to enjoy it! Thanks so much! You are really one of my favorite authors! Thank you again for everything that you do! You are amazing!
Phyllis replied:
I’m glad you enjoy the books so much. They’re some of my favorite to write. I really don’t know if there will be more Alice movies or not. I think the producer may have had a TV series in mind when the idea was first conceived. But they’ve sort of written themselves into a corner with the changes they’ve made in the ages and races of some of the characters. I’m wondering if there will be room for Gwen and other characters in later movies? But right now, they’re just getting reaction from the first movie, “Alice Upside Down,” which certainly had some good scenes and funny moments. So we’ll see. I’ve not heard anything yet.
Posted on: July 4, 2009
Question:
I love your books!!! They have a lot of suspense, humor, and real life situations. Well I was wondering, in ”Intensely Alice” why it was ——- that you chose to die. It could have been anyone else.
Also, If you are adding a new character in the last books, can you try to think of making the characters name ”—-”. That’s my name and I don’t care what personality you give me, I just think it would be cool reading my name and knowing I’m part of the book. I’m sorry it might be too much too ask but it would mean a lot to me.
I love the best friend trio. Alice, Elizabeth and Pamela are the perfect combination of personalities to make perfect best friends. Elizabeth usually is the one who actually thinks about consequences of things and she is still fun but prefers staying safe. Pamela is the one who suggests
all the crazy things and actually considers them. She is the life of the party! Alice is curious. Alice’s life is like a rollercoaster and she is lovin’ it at time and is getting confused at times.
Phyllis replied:
I suppose I could use your name, but what if I killed you off? No, sorry, but I never use names of people I know, or people who write to me. It begins to affect how my characters behave, and I’ve got to let them be themselves. I chose the character I did to have the tragic death because I knew how deeply it would affect the relatives.
Posted on: July 4, 2009
Question:
Im having a great summer but there has been one thing on my mind the whole time… im starting high school this year and i am really nurvious. no matter how many times i read “alice alone” i cant get used to the idea of leaving my old school. and also i get really sick. i threw up on the first day of 8th grade. i dont know why i get so nervious.
Phyllis replied:
Sometimes we have to face things head-on. Do you have any close eighth grade friends who will entering high school with you? Can you even see any humor in this? A few clothes friends following you in holding a bucket and a sign, “the bucket brigade,” and…to questions from others…”in case she pukes”? Okay, no, I guess you’re too close to this for it to be funny. The thing is, when you’re a sophomore, or junior, or senior, and feeling at home in high school, you’re going to think of all the funny things you could have done; all the witty things you could have said. The way upper classmen would look at you and your friends and think, “Hey, there’s a lively bunch!” If you can’t find some humor in the situation, then you just have to live through it, and when you’ve lived through a number of “firsts” and realize you do survive, the anxiety should get less.
Posted on: July 4, 2009
Question:
I’ve been meaning to write to you for a long time. Every time I’ve put down an Alice book after reading it (I usually need to finish your books in one or two sittings), I feel so compelled to tell you what it meant to me.
I’ve always felt a strange connection to Alice. Although perhaps conceitedly, I see myself a lot in her. In coincidences: I was born in Silver Spring, it sounds like I look like her, I was editor of my school newspaper, and I started writing a story about two girls named “Molly and Faith” before I even read Simply Alice. I also believe I enjoy reading about her experiences not only because they’re written humorously or realistically, but because she acts like me in some cases—the good and the bad. We both worry when we shouldn’t, we try to keep an open mind, we tend to overreact, and we compare ourselves unfairly to our brainiac boyfriends! But I’m still aspiring to be as courageous a heroine as the one you have given me all these years.
And like Alice, I am not sure at all what I believe, religiously speaking. Especially after having lost. Thankfully, I do not share with her the tragedy of losing a mother. But after finishing Intensely Alice minutes ago and sobbing, I realize I feel even more in touch with her.
I can’t say what it feels like to lose a friend. Losing a loved one is different for everyone. But the recurring feelings of grief overwhelmed me as I read your book. You captured it all for me. Too well even. I think I’ve suppressed some of my questions of death, God, and fate but you’ve opened them up again for me. A good friend of mine lost a very good friend of hers in a car accident. I tried to understand her grief while I comforted her but it was hard to feel a loss when he had had no place in my life before.
But a month later, at nearly the same time as —— died, I lost someone I still love today. My family’s small already and to lose my one aunt, the one who brought so much life into our daily lives, was devastating.
The story you’ve created intertwining these teens and their families aren’t just stories. You’ve created a place for your readers we can believe. That’s why it struck me so hard…I honestly never cry after reading a book like I just did. I know you remember what it feels like to be our age, and I also know you know what feels like to grieve. What I don’t learn from my mother, I learn from you. Thank you for not only entertaining me all these years with the Alice books, but being a comfort and guidance. I promise to continue reading this series even when I start college this fall!
Phyllis replied:
I really appreciated your letter. I still can’t read one of those scenes aloud without tearing up, so the death affected me too. I’m probably working out some repressed grief in myself for relatives I’ve lost over the years, especially for my sister. I’m glad you’ll go on reading Alice after you’ve gone to college. I hear from many college students who say that the Alice books go right along with them and find a place in their dorm rooms.
Posted on: July 4, 2009
Question:
I am in love with your Alice books. I literally just finished “Intensely Alice” this morning. I cried about the death. I really felt the emotions of Alice and the others.
I was wondering, are you going to write any other Alice books? I can’t find any notice of a new one and that alarmed me. When I read the ending over again I was even more alarmed because it sounded like an ending to a series. I was sad when that thought came to my mind. I was wondering what was going to happen to everyone. Also, what tips would you have for someone aspiring to be an author? I have always loved reading and writing, and I want to hear what you would have to say about everything.
Please, if you have the time to reply, I’d love to hear what you have to say
Phyllis replied:
Several people have remarked that the ending of this book made it sound like the finale. Hey, guys, there are three more Alice books to go, so you still have a lot of reading left. Please go to my Alice home page and click on FAQ–that will answer a lot of your questions. And best of luck in your own writing!
Posted on: July 4, 2009
Question:
i absolutly love all of you alice books!! i just started reading them this year and i have fell in love!! I can read them in a day…max 2days….haha…..i didnt know the books camE in order though so i have been reading them out of oreder, but they still make sense…ive only seen one of the alice moives and it was the first one i think, becuase i only thought there was one…..anyway my question is even though your book sais for ages 9-13 what do u think is the right age to start readin alice books??….PLEASE right back so i can know that u have recieved my email…….YOUR BIGGEST FAN!!
Phyllis replied:
I think that third graders would enjoy “Starting with Alice;” fourth graders, “Alice in Blunderland,” fifth graders, “Lovingly Alice,” and sixth graders “The Agony of Alice,” and “Alice in Rapture ,Sort Of.” After that, if they read three books a year, in the right order, they and Alice will grow up about the same time together.
Posted on: July 3, 2009
Question:
I read starting with alice, and alice in rapture, sort of in 4th grade, and now (5th grade) since my friend starting reading all of the newer books, i started checking them out at the library. some of the siduations that alice faces aren’t happening to me yet, but it is definatly good advice for the future. I read one of the alice books in maximum 3 days, and i have read some of the fan mail on your website, and now i know that there is information about the books that i haven’t gotten a chance to read yet. so now i already know that someone dies in Intensly Alice, but i don’t know who. i also know that there will be the last book that comes out in 2013. so i am glad to know that i can keep on reading these books until 9th grade when they end. you are an amazing writer, and i know that you have heard that many times before, but i really mean it. i am really glad that you have written more than a hundred books, and that makes me know that you really take a lot of time to really get into your wrting and make the readers feel that you are really right beside alice, for example. i will definatly keep on reading the alice books until they stop and try not to find out too much information on your website.
Phyllis replied:
I’m glad you feel that Alice will give you good advice for the future. I hope so. She sure gets herself in a lot of situations that she has to solve herself.
Posted on: July 3, 2009
I know this is for e-mailing questions but though I do have a question there was just something i wanted to tell you and that is THANK YOU!
Question:
I was in 6th grade when I picked ALICE ALONE of the shelf of my school library, little did I know that I had just found my best friend. Alice and some of the other characters in the series became my friends that year and with all the groups of friends I have gone through up till now, which is the summer before my second year of college, they were the ones that were always there. I loved catching up on all the books that came out before I started reading the series and waited for what seemed like forever for new ones to come out. Honestly I spent more time waiting for the newest book then i did reading them I usually finished them in a day or two depending on what I had going on. Today I spent most of my day reading INTENSELY ALICE, and despite making me cry when ——– died (I felt like I lost as friend) I loved it. I thought of today as spending time with old friends I haven’t seen in awhile.
Your Alice books have given me something to look forward to for the last 7 years and I am looking forward to the next 4 to come. I really wanna thank you for creating one of my best friends. Alice and her friends have become my friends and are “people” I can relate to and wish to be at times.
Well my question is now, is there any chance you can come to Long Island to do a book signing or something because there is nothing that would make me happier than having my copy of ALICE ALONE the first book that I read to be signed by you and to thank you in person for writing these books all these years?
Phyllis replied:
I wish I could go to all the places where my readers live, but Long Island isn’t on the agenda right now. Some people send me copies to be signed, and I mail them back to you. You must enclose a stamped mailer for sending the book back, of course, with your complete address, but this is one way to get a book signed. I’m so glad that Alice is one of your best friends. I’m rather fond of her myself.
Posted on: July 2, 2009
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